Sailing the Inland Sea: On Writing, Literature, and Land written by Susan Neville

Synopsis:

Calling on the image of the Midwest's vanished inland sea, Susan Neville has written a compelling collection of essays that ponder writing and the "landlocked imagination." The essays range from interviews with Indiana writers Kurt Vonnegut, Scott Sanders, Marguerite Young, and others, to discussions on techniques grounded in a Midwestern sensibility. As director of Butler University's Visiting Writers Series, Neville has had the rare opportunity to converse with such literary giants as Salman Rushdie, Ray Bradbury, and Toni Morrison, and some of those exchanges have been incorporated into this exciting new collection.

Pam Kingsbury - Library Journal

Taking her title from the image of Indiana's landlocked status, Neville (English & creative writing, Butler Univ.; Iconography: A Writer's Meditation) addresses the Midwest consciousness, its literary scene, and the various authors with whom she's worked as director of Butler University's "Visiting Writers" series. A native Hoosier, Neville celebrates place and her home state's considerable contributions to the literary world. The essays are eclectic, engaging, and entertaining. Her conversations with the late Kurt Vonnegut are particularly timely, offering a portrait of a gentle spirit and an extraordinary writer. She also reminds readers of the contributions of, among other writers, Sinclair Lewis, Scott Russell Sanders, Marguerite Young, Dan Wakefield, Etheridge Knight, and Jessamyn West to American letters. The individual chapters have been previously published in smaller magazines and/or delivered as lectures. Taken together, they constitute a love letter to the Midwest as well as a lively commentary on creativity and the writing life. Highly recommended for all libraries with large collections on creative writing and for all libraries in the Midwest.

Table of Contents:

Preface ixAcknowledgments xiOn the Banks of Lost River 1Where the Landscape Moved Like Waves: An Interview With Marguerite Young 10River of Spirit: An Interview With Dan Wakefield 22Sacred Space in Ordinary Time 30Quaker Zen: On Jessamyn West's the Friendly Persuasion 39Vonnegut 43Free Singers/Be: On Etheridge Knight 53On Wildness and Domesticity: An Interview With Scott Russell Sanders 64The Gospel According to Lish 72Imagination 80On Being Fierce 83Monopoly Houses: On John McPhee's "The Search For Marvin Gardens" 93Sailing the Sea in New Harmony, Indiana: On Digression in Creative Nonfiction 101Driving Famous Writers Around I-465 111Leaping Across the Canyon: On Writing 119Where's Iago? 122Saturation: On Climate, Politics, and Sex (or, the Ballad of the S.A.D. Cafe) 136Time Capsules: On Time in Willa Cather's Death Comes For the Archbishop 154The Apprenticeship of Plannery O'Connor 165The Gift of Fire: A Meditation on Art and Madness 182On Common Ground: Indiana Literatureand the Land 196The Economy of Peace 213Bibliography 219